


At Night

by cattacodinosaur



Series: The Undone Series [2]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, kinda angsty, tropetastictuesday, tropetastictuesday9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 05:52:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10803057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cattacodinosaur/pseuds/cattacodinosaur
Summary: A story of two men hopelessly in love, unaware. As told from four different points of view.Prompt: Mutual pining - up to 2000 words.





	At Night

**Author's Note:**

> _Mutual pining is when two people in love are both suffering and yearning for each other, but for one reason or another they are unaware of each other’s love or can’t declare it._

* * *

* * *

 

The moon was large and looked nearly weightless outside of Link's open bedroom window. It cast a soft white light between the branches of the maple tree that grew large in the small backyard. The shadows danced on the wall. He watched the branches move gently in the warm night wind, a midnight rendezvous between the air and the leaves. He turned onto his side, carefully, and watched his wife's closed eyes flutter as she dreamed. Link knew she would tell him all about her dream over their steaming mugs of morning coffee. She lay bare under the old duvet, a vision of gold hair and sun-kissed flesh. There had been passion and heat as they rolled around on cotton sheets. He returned to his position on his back and fidgeted with the gold band on his ring finger. He slid it off, jostled it between his thumb and forefinger, slipped it to the knuckle of his thumb.

He couldn't sleep. It was obvious something was bothering him. He sighed and closed his eyes tight. He knew he'd need glasses soon. It was nights like this, warm summer nights where the sky seemed so big and he so small. It was nights like this where he wished he still shared a house with Rhett. He wished he could waltz into that familiar bedroom again, nudge the man awake and beg to go for a drive. Rhett always obliged. He'd unfold his lanky body from his cocoon of blankets and effortlessly slip into a baggy pair of jeans. _'Where are we goin', bo?'_ He would drape a long arm over Link's broad shoulders.

_'It doesn't matter as long as we go there together.'_

Link shuddered as a pain filled his chest. He moved the ring to his right hand, rolling it between his fingers like a gambler with a coin. He knew that feeling. Knew it all too well.

It wasn't that he didn't love her. He did. With all his heart. But Rhett? He loved him with all his soul. They were soulmates. Strictly platonic soulmates. At least, that's what he told himself.

_'Hey, Linkster? I've been meaning to ask you...remember Jessie?'_

_'That high school girl from back home? What about her?'_

_'_ _I'm gonna ask her out. I really like her, man. I think we're destined to be together. Soulmates.'_

Link sighed and put his ring back on its intended finger before rolling onto his other side, his back to Christy.

He didn't like feeling this way. _'But how do you feel, exactly?'_ His brain chided. _'Like I'm unfaithful? Like I'm lying? Like I'm in love?'_   But he was. Unfaithful? Some would argue yes. Lying? Absolutely. Not only to himself but to the woman he gave his heart to. To the man to whom it belonged. In love? It was safe to say he was, although he'd never say it. Not out loud.

 _'What am I doing?'_ He considered silently, only a low groan echoed throughout the bedroom. _'I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful family. The videos are just starting to gain a little momentum. Don't ruin this.'_ He closed his eyes. Visions of the angular man filled his mind. Memories of lazy days on the Cape Feare river; skin exposed to the warm rays of sunshine. Nights in their dorm, wrestling in their baggy boxer shorts. Sitting beside each other, naked shoulder's brushing as they rambled pointless jokes to the camera. He felt the familiar swell in his pajama pants. His chest ached. His head pounded.

He pulled his knees to his chest, wrapped his arms tightly around them, and silently wept.

* * *

* * *

 

Christy always joked that her husband could sleep through the end of the world. She, on the other hand, slept lightly. Link had rolled off of her and out of the bed in order to slide into a pair of flannel pajama bottoms. _'You're gonna roast in those, Sugar.'_

She felt Link stir. By now, she knew all his movements by heart. It came with sharing a bed. With sharing a life together. She kept her eyes closed. She could tell by his restlessness that something was bothering him. She had never come right out and asked him, but she knew. She knew his mind went to his best friend in moments like these. Quiet moments. Moments after making love.

She knew she should be hurt. Husbands aren't in love with their male best friends. That's just not how things are. She knew she should be jealous. What did he have that she didn't? She knew she should be angry. Was she not enough? Would she ever be?

But she wasn't. She was heartbroken. But not for the reasons one may think. No. Her heart broke for Link. For the pain he must feel. It couldn't be easy, growing up lonely and confused in a part of the country that didn't know any non-derogatory terms for what he was going through.

 _'If he would just tell me',_ she reasoned silently, her mind wandering before it could complete the thought.

She saw it in Rhett too. She saw the sadness in his eyes. She saw the way his tongue would dart out to wet his lower lip whenever Link smiled.

' _Rhett, hon, are you okay? The burgers are done. Hurry up, or y'all are gonna miss it.'_ She had found Rhett behind the old shed in the backyard, wiping his large hand over wet eyes.

_'Hmm..yeah. It's just the smoke from the grill. I'm fine. Promise.'_

She felt Link roll back onto his back. She knew he was messing around with the golden band on his finger. The man had a tell for everything. When they played cards, he'd scrunch his nose. When he lied, he'd scratch his ear. And when he thought of Rhett, well. It was obvious.

She kept her eyes closed as her husband curled into a ball beside her. She opened one eye and watched as his back trembled while he tried to cry quietly. A single tear slid down her cheek as the moon cast a sad, knowing shadow over his small frame.

Link might be the one who needed glasses, but she wasn't blind.

* * *

* * *

 

Rhett sat on the front stoop of the home he shared with his loving family and looked to the moon, full and low in the sky. He felt like if he tried hard enough, he may just be able to touch it. His fingers stretched out into the darkness, long and nimble.

 _'It would almost be easier,'_ he thought to himself, _'than trying to touch his face.'_ He had come close, many times, to caressing the smooth cheek only to chicken out at the last minute. Guys didn't want to trace the strong jawline of another man, softly, delicately. He knew that it was wrong to think about those bright blue eyes staring deep into his. He knew it was wrong to get jealous whenever Link took Christy in his arms and kissed her neck.

He knew he was in love. Hopelessly, recklessly, impulsively in love. He knew, deep down, that Christy knew too. He looked at her husband the same way she did. If she did know, she never let on. Never tried to defend what was rightfully hers. Never tried to separate them. For all of it, he was grateful. He didn't know what he'd do if she ever confronted him.

He stood and relocated to a large grassy patch. He stretched out on his back, the long grass tickled his bare skin. He rested his head on his left arm, folded sharply behind him. His right arm rested on his chest. Rhett absentmindedly traced abstract designs on his skin with the rough pad of his finger, imagining it was Link's own softer digit.

_'D'ya ever think that somewhere out there in the universe, there is another us?'_

_'C'mon man. I came out here to stargaze, not get philosophical.'_

_'I'm just sayin'. There could be infinite incarnations of us and we might never know! There could be a universe where we're fightin' in a war!'_

_'Or women!'_

_'Or married...'_

_'...'_

_'You're right. There probably ain't no other universes. We should just enjoy the one we got.'_

Rhett liked to think that one day he'd do it. One day he'd be brave and touch Link without it being weird. Without trying to displace any ideas of feelings people may gather.

The stars twinkled brightly, reminding him of the glimmer in Link's stare.

"One day." He whispered to the indigo sky. "One day."

* * *

* * *

 

Jessie watched her husband from their kitchen window. He was spread out in the front yard, shirtless and lost in his own thoughts. She poured herself a glass of juice and sipped silently, watching.

She knew she would always come in second place in the race for her husband's affection. At first she had been young, naive, and insanely jealous of the other brunette. It was always Link. Link did this. Link said that. She hadn't been able to figure out why it bothered her so much, so she chalked it up to boys being boys. Why go shopping with her when he could go campin' with the guys? Only it wasn't just the guys. It was Link. It was always Link.

She couldn't figure out why it bothered her so bad. Not until Link and Christy's wedding, anyway. Rhett had looked so dejected, so small in his body. His eyes were far away and wet. And when they both said 'I do', his hands balled into tight fists.

It had all made sense. The way he looked at Link. The way Link would look away, only to look back again. Hopeful. The way they would touch, only to pull back as if burned.

Over the years, the jealousy subsided. She knew she was loved. Rhett loved her the only way he knew how. He provided for her, their son. He was the model husband and father.

_'I've been thinkin', Jess.'_

_'_ _Oh, no.'_

 _'_ _I wanna start a business.'_

_'What kind of business?'_

_'Online videos...like little skits and commercials.'_

_'_ _Sounds weird.'_

_'And I wanna ask Link to do it with me.'_

_'Well, you are Rhett and Link. You can't have one without the other.'_

She finished her juice, rinsed the cup, and placed it on the rack to dry. Rhett was still outside, his eyes closed and his bare chest illuminated by the light of the moon.

She knew that one day Rhett would finally confess his feelings. But it would be to Link first. Link always came first. And one day, she decided, one day she'd be okay with being second place.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading! I hope this is okay. I don't think I've found my words yet, but I really wanted to do this prompt for tropetastic Tuesday.


End file.
